Thoreau's 'Walden' gets new life as a video game

A view of Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., where the 19th century American philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau spent two years in solitude and reflection. A new Playstation game devoted to the Thoreau classic debuts on Tuesday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A team at the University of Southern California's Game Innovation Lab has adapted Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" into a video game.

Players can build a cabin along the shores of Walden Pond, toil in fields for sustenance and explore 70 acres of digital nature over the course of one year, the same time period covered in Thoreau's book.

The game has been available for about a year on computers, but it was launched Tuesday on PlayStation 4.

Tracy Fullerton led the team that designed the game. She says "Walden" is one of her favorite books and thinks its message of escaping technology to appreciate nature is topical today.

Fullerton says the objective is to find the right balance between survival and fulfillment.